Dental implant systems are well known in the art for replacing one or more dead or missing teeth. For example, common dental implant systems include a base which is integrated into one of the upper and lower jaw, and an abutment which attaches to the base. The base is often called a root form, as it looks and behaves similar to the root or roots of a tooth or teeth. Once the abutment is attached to the root form, a dental prosthesis is bonded to the abutment using known techniques. The dental prosthesis may take the form of a replacement tooth, a bridge and the like.
Installing a dental implant into a patient's mouth is often a multi-step process. For example, typical approaches to implantation may include preparing a site for implantation, surgically inserting a root form into the jaw, allowing a sufficient amount of time for the root form to osseointegrate (i.e. fuse with the surrounding bone), connecting an abutment to the root form, and finally attaching a replacement prosthesis to the abutment. A multi-step process involving a multi-part dental implant system is the preferred approach for many dentists and dental surgeons, as it allows for the proper integration of the root form within the surrounding bone (usually taking between 2 to 6 months) without the root form being affected by a patient's chewing during the osseointregration step. When suitably integrated into the jaw, the root form may provide a solid anchor in which to attach the abutment and subsequent dental prosthesis may be connected.
Typical dental implant technology often employs the use of threads to connect the abutment to the root form implanted within the jaw. For example, the dental implant may utilize corresponding threads on both the root form and the abutment to allow the abutment to be screwed into the root form. Once connected, the abutment may have an attachment connector or end for bonding a dental prosthesis to the abutment. The dental prosthesis may be glued, cemented or otherwise connected to the abutment.
While typical dental implants allow for the connection of a dental prosthesis to a root form, the inventors have appreciated that the diameter and pitch of different threaded abutments vary from one manufacturer to another.
Furthermore, where a patient with an installed dental implant is involved in a trauma, such as a motor vehicle accident or a sports-related injury, a portion of the abutment may break off or shear. The threads of the abutment and/or root form may also become damaged by other means. If this occurs, a dentist or dental surgeon may have difficulty in removing the abutment from the root form and finding a replacement abutment.
The inventors have also appreciated that, in some cases, damage to the threads of the root form and/or the abutment may make removal or replacement of the damaged abutment impossible. In other cases, the dentist and/or dental surgeon may be unable to identify or distinguish the threads of the root form in order to locate a replacement abutment even with known thread identification tools. In this situation, the dentist or dental surgeon may be forced to remove the osseointegrated root form and begin the multi-step implantation process over again by installing a new root form. If a new root form is required, a patient will require adequate time (often months) to recover from the removal of the previous root form before the new root form can be surgically installed. Even more time will then be required for the new root form to become osseointegrated and for a new abutment and dental prosthetic to be put in place. Accordingly, replacing an installed dental implant with a new root form is both time-consuming and uncomfortable for the patient.